Nipped in the Bud
by Abicion
Summary: Such wondrous humiliation.
1. Chapter 1

Divergence: Branch F-93-2.

MSN04_007AC4.

Begin recording.

This timeline begins as a deviation in Branch EFGXYZ, or the "Family Reunion" Branch. Under normal conditions, the five Intoner siblings defeat Zero and use a special magical compound designed to make the flower in her eye rapidly spread its roots through her body and take over her mind. Five rests Zero's head in her lap and brushes the hair away from her vulnerable eye while whispering suggestive pleasantries. Four nervously administers the compound from a tiny eye dropper, as all of the sisters agreed such a delicate process required a "virgin's touch." Three is responsible for developing all of the complex mathematical formulas and forbidden spells that create the compound. Two just sort of watches and acts weird like she usually does. One oversees the entire process with a careful eye and a stern nod. The ceremony succeeds, Zero inadvertently turns herself into a "full Intoner" the next time she tries to regenerate, and the six sisters proceed to bring about the end of the world as a single loving family.

Things go a bit differently in Branch F-93-2. We commonly refer this as the "Symbiosis" Branch. Everything is almost the same up until the moment the Zero's flower is fertilized by the eye drops. Rather than accelerating in growth and attaching itself to Zero's mind, however, the flower converts the compound into a concentrated Intoner-killing toxin and releases it as a defense mechanism. The toxin attacks the nervous systems of Zero, One, Two, Three, and Five, killing them all within seconds.

In this specific Branch, in the days leading up to the ceremony, Four secretly tried to convince the flower it only needed one loyal Intoner under its control and promised to use all of her resources as an airship captain to carry out its will. She had lost hope in bringing Zero "back to her senses" and decided her only choice was to replace Zero entirely. She saw her other sisters as a bickering, dysfunctional bunch who were the entire reason Zero had turned against them to begin with.

The flower must have decided Four's brain would provide it abundant fertile soil, as it accepted her invitation and aided in her plot. It caused Four's body develop a natural immunity to its toxin just in time for the ceremony. The only thing Four asked for in return for her full devotion was a moment to scavenge Zero's undergarments after she sprung the trap. She now keeps these in a small shrine along with a portrait of Zero, a lock of Zero's hair, and a shard from Zero's broken sword. She has been known to sniff them from time to time. This apparently serves as a source of inspiration for her.

With the rival Intoners gone, there was only one remaining obstacle in the flower's path of conquest. This issue was resolved when One's clone brother ended up impaled on his own Dragonbone sword while a group of air pirates danced around him singing "Haul on the Bowline." Four's soprano notes made for an interesting female accompaniment.

Shortly after becoming this Branch's dominant Intoner, Four rechristened her fleet as the "Flying Garden." The ships were redesigned and infused with Intoner magic so they would be used in long-distance trips to locations outside of Four's native planet. They now resemble an army of giant floating flowers.

When left unopposed, the flower will consume everything around it like an aggressive network of weeds. It travels from world to world on the vehicles Four provides it, leaving nothing but a trail of corpses and flower blossoms in its wake.

Rather than having an unsightly flower growing out of her eye, Four's symptoms of complete parasitism are relatively subtle. Both of her eyes are marked with the small but distinct shape of flower petals in her pupil and iris. She appears to be acting under a combination of the flower's will and her own when deciding which world she should pillage next. That, or the maddening effects of the flower just cause her to ramble to herself occasionally. If her crew shows sign of reluctance or resistance to her orders, she will immediately release pheromones that render them as mindless thralls to their "blossoming goddess." She is able to use a much stronger form of the same pheromones when she feels like bringing entire worlds to a quick and peaceful surrender. Of course, she still slaughters virtually every living being in those worlds. The flower allows her to spare the strongest men in each world only so they can serve in her growing slave crew. She refers to them endearingly as her "Legion of Thorns."

Chastity was Four's defining characteristic when she was an individual being, but this changed completely once she offered herself to the flower. Whether this was simply a case of delayed Intoner libido (we call this the Late Bloomer Theory) or a direct result of the flower's influence is not currently known. Whatever the reason, Four's increased sex drive has caused her to develop some unique dynamics with her Disciples.

Yes, that is correct. Disciple**s.**

This Branch's version of Four has two primary modes of regeneration. In both cases, her new body will grow out of cells from one of her fingernails and she always regenerates as a virgin. If her current body is forced to regenerate before she has a chance to lose her virginity (such as last week, when she became reckless during one of her otherworldly invasions), she will respawn in a new body identical to the previous one. However, her first priority is almost always to find a new Disciple and consummate their Intoner-Disciple union. In a process we refer to as "cross-pollination," her body processes genetic material from that Disciple and factors it into her regeneration cycle. The next time she regenerates, her new body will have a combination of physical traits and magical abilities from both her previous form and her Disciple. In simpler terms, every time she allows herself to be deflowered, she is conceiving her own reincarnation.

Four will release her previous Disciple and conjure a new one each time her appearance changes. When selecting her new Disciple, she will generally give him a human form that is a variation on the same basic theme: A male version of Zero. We have come to give her various Disciples easily identifiable code names such as Beefcake Zero, Pretty Boy Zero, Scruffy Zero, Lanky Zero, Goth Zero, and so on.

Four's ultimate goal is to find to the exact genetic combination that will cause her to regenerate into a body that perfectly resembles the original female Zero. She claims she will then return to protecting her chastity so she can live as Zero for the rest of eternity. She has gone so far as to obsessively scribble her own family tree several generations in advance, picking and matching the most desirable traits one at a time. Based on her statements, she still doesn't like to get "dirty," but she feels it is a necessary part of becoming just like her "sister." She can sometimes be sporadic about this, however. After several failed cross-pollination experiments in a row, she suddenly became frustrated and summoned a completely different Disciple just so she could distance herself from Zero's likeness in her next incarnation. After spending a few weeks in her new body, she became regretful and went to her shrine to beg for Zero's forgiveness. Her optimism returned and she used her next Disciple to start her plans over from scratch.

In all likelihood, she will never actually accomplish her goal. Genetics simply do not work the way her fickle mind believes they do, and there is a high probability the flower has been deliberately leaving each of her incarnations with minor imperfections (the wrong hair color, bushier eyebrows, a slightly smaller nose, a couple centimeters of difference in her BWH measurements, etc.) as a way to encourage her to constantly evolve.

The nomadic nature of Four's Flying Garden and her own changing appearance makes it incredibly difficult to keep a complete record of her actions. We can only make rough estimates on how much damage has been caused by her existence in this Branch. We will continue to monitor the situation if only out of morbid curiosity. We have recorded several different timelines where only one of the Intoners is left as the flower's living vessel, but this Branch seems to be the most persistent. Four will surprise us all if she manages to create some new form of stability out of all this death and insanity.


	2. Chapter 2

"_Only you can make this world seem right. Only you can make the darkness bright."_

- The Joker, Batman: Arkham City

* * *

><p><strong>[Branch F-93-2.]<strong>

**[Recording in progress.]**

Fatigue and carelessness were catching up with Four. In the midst of her gleeful killing spree, one of the warriors had just enough time to blindside her and sink his blade into her lightly armored flesh. She knew the wound was fatal when the flower began to rapidly spread its magic through her body.

She fell on her side in a cry of pain. She could feel the life flowing out of her, but a new life started to grow within her. The sensation moved up her body, tingled through her arm, and went into one of her fingers. As her eyes closed and her breaths became soft, she scraped lightly at the ground with a single long fingernail. Where her nail touched, a lush patch of plant life instantly sprouted up from the floor. Her body dissolved, irrigating the small garden and leaving only her metal gauntlet behind. A giant blood-soaked flower grew in the center of the patch, and a new Four burst from its petals. She was almost unrecognizable without her clothes and covered in crimson gore.

Quickly coming to her senses, she picked up her gauntlet and put herself back in the battle. The remaining soldiers were no match for a fully rested Intoner, and Four's bad mood only hastened their demise. She hated having to regenerate in the middle of fighting. Not because she was bitter over her temporary defeat, but because being resurrected in such a manner meant she had to bare herself in front of total strangers. She wanted to be modest and quaint, like a delicate tulip, but here she was in all of her vulgar and disgusting glory. It felt improper every time it happened. If anyone other than her beloved Disciple managed to see her like this, she wasn't going to let them live to talk about it.

She finished them off in seconds. Once they were dead, she stood in patient silence waiting for her next command. She flexed her armored fingers and pondered what kind of apocalypse the flower would make her bring to this world. The game they played was slightly different every time they destroyed another planet.

When most of the flower's restorative nectar had dripped off of her body, she remembered something. She and Septimus had shared their love in her previous incarnation. That meant her appearance had changed again. She had to see for herself.

She anxiously looked about for anything she could use. Her vision settled on a round shield sprawled on top of one of the soldier's corpses. She lifted the shield with both hands, brushed away the soldier's entrails with her gauntlet, and started at her reflection on the polished surface.

She couldn't believe what she saw.

Her long silver hair. Her vibrant rose colored eyes. Her nose, her lips, her neck, and everything she had below. It was beautiful. It had all come out just as she wanted. After waiting for so long, after almost giving up so many times, it had finally worked.

She was Zero. It was a perfect resemblance down to the most minute details.

She had never felt this happy in ages. Her expression of joy started as harmless giggling. It gradually turned into insane, uncontrollable laughter. The Power of Song meant she would always have Four's voice, but that was okay. Zero would get used to it. She would get used to it. She was glad a small part of Four could remain with her after all the hard work she had done. Plus, it just sounded cute.

When she finally relaxed, she sighed contently and smiled to herself. She held the shield to her chest, tightly hugging her own reflection.

Then someone ripped her heart out. The shield fell from her grasp and clattered against the ground.

She looked down and saw the gaping hole in her sternum. Then she looked over her shoulder. Behind her stood a young woman with strange, stick-like limbs and round spectacles holding the missing piece of her body. It was covered in her blood and wrapped in the flower's central root system.

"No... fair…" Four whimpered in pain.

"I apologize for my rude entrance," the mysterious girl said. "I cannot allow you to interfere with timelines outside of this one."

Something was wrong. Four couldn't sense the flower using its magic to give her a new heart. Her strength only continued to fade away. The symbols in her eyes flickered like tiny petal-shaped flames.

"The flower… Why does it feel so weak?"

"It's one of my advanced features," the girl answered calmly. "All Accord models can automatically modify their equipment under extreme circumstances. For this mission, my weapon systems have been reconfigured to the physical composition of Dragonbone. It's the only element we know is effective against the flower. The parasite that allows your body to function is dying."

Four's fear turned to sorrow. Her eyes became moist as she went into a panic.

"But… but I finally got to become Zero. That's all I ever wanted!"

"Zero was eliminated from this Branch years ago." Accord narrowed her eyes. Her voice was cold and impatient. "By your hand, no less."

"No, that's not right. You don't understand!" The Intoner was rapidly losing her composure. "The only reason I did that… the only reason Four did that is because she wanted to free Zero's spirit. My spirit. Everything had gone so badly, it was the only thing she could do."

She started to cough. Blood trickled down the sides of her mouth while tears started to stream from her eyes.

"We... I… The other Intoners! They're the reason Zero turned out like that! I told them we should just go back to her and try to start things over! I told them we didn't need to go on a big fight for peace. I tried to stop them from killing Michael! I really… She really did! I knew that would only make her hate us more. But they were too stupid and selfish to listen to me! We never should have taken him away from her. I… I mean they never should have taken him away from Zero. I mean taken him away from me! Four… I… Four wasn't like the rest. She just wanted us to be sisters again. That's why she used her own life to bring me back!"

"The flower is the reason you have this form." Accord showed her no amount of sympathy. "It realized your obsession was making you more and more unreliable. It only gave you what you wanted as a last resort."

She gazed intently at Four's heart.

"I've observed all possible outcomes for this Branch. If you had gone through one more resurrection in any other body, your mind would have shattered from grief and the flower would have been stuck with a vegetable as its Intoner. Now that it has avoided that outcome and regained your full commitment, it's ready to proceed to the next stage of its infestation. That is a risk I absolutely cannot allow."

Four became even more disjointed. Everything she had worked toward was being dashed away by Accord's stinging words. The pain was unbearable. Her entire body started to tremble as she sobbed.

"No! You can't do this to me! Not _now!_ She's already… I've already lost everything once! I've been through so much and I'm finally ready to move on. Can't I at least have my life? Four would have wanted me to live!"

"You really are pathetic." Accord slowly shook her head. "I thought the greatest threat to the entire metaverse would be more intimidating than this. I expected you to gloat at me about how indestructible you are, or try to convince me the flower is your puppet instead of the other way around. Instead you're just a hopeless crybaby caught up in her own fairy tales. You don't even know who you are anymore."

Four tried to stifle back another wave of tears.

"But… but I'm Ze-…"

Accord crushed the heart in her fist. The Intoner suddenly froze mid-sentence, then toppled into a lifeless heap. Accord dropped the useless organ beside its owner and cleaned her hand with a handkerchief.

"Accord Unit 1138 reporting," she announced to no one in particular. "Surrounding Branches are no longer compromised. The singularity known as Four has been termin-…"

Her voice trailed off as she glanced down at Four's final incarnation. As she stood there, she considered everything she had observed in this timeline and wondered if she should show any sort of pity for the miserable girl. A girl created out of a living doomsday weapon, who was cursed before she was even born and was never allowed a chance to live as a normal human being. A girl who, in all of her catastrophic actions, underneath all of her madness, was just trying to give a tiny amount of meaning to her bleak and artificial life.

Accord sighed in regret before submitting to her conscience.

"Correction. Zero has been laid back to rest."

**[Recording ended.]**

* * *

><p><strong>[Branch F-93-2.]<strong>

**[Minor error detected in existing record. Re-recording for Quality Assurance.]**

Fatigue and carelessness were catching up with Four. In the midst of her gleeful killing spree, one of the warriors had just enough time to blindside her and sink his blade into her lightly armored flesh. She knew the wound was fatal when the flower began to rapidly spread its magic through her body.

She fell on her side in a cry of pain. She could feel the life flowing out of her, but a new life started to grow within her. The sensation moved up her body, tingled through her arm, and went into one of her fingers. As her eyes closed and her breaths became soft, she scraped lightly at the ground with a single long fingernail. Where her nail touched, a lush patch of plant life instantly sprouted up from the floor. Her body dissolved, irrigating the small garden and leaving only her metal gauntlet behind. A giant blood-soaked flower grew in the center of the patch, and a new Four burst from its petals. She was almost unrecognizable without her clothes and covered in crimson gore.

Quickly coming to her senses, she picked up her gauntlet and put herself back in the battle. The remaining soldiers were no match for a fully rested Intoner, and Four's bad mood only hastened their demise. She hated having to regenerate in the middle of fighting. Not because she was bitter over her temporary defeat, but because being resurrected in such a manner meant she had to bare herself in front of total strangers. She wanted to be modest and quaint, like a delicate tulip, but here she was in all of her vulgar and disgusting glory. It felt improper every time it happened. If anyone other than her beloved Disciple managed to see her like this, she wasn't going to let them live to talk about it.

She finished them off in seconds. Once they were dead, she stood in patient silence waiting for her next command. She flexed her armored fingers and pondered what kind of apocalypse the flower would make her bring to this world. The game they played was slightly different every time they destroyed another planet.

When most of the flower's restorative nectar had dripped off of her body, she remembered something. She and Septimus had shared their love in her previous incarnation. That meant her appearance had changed again. She had to see for herself.

She anxiously looked about for anything she could use. Her vision settled on a round shield sprawled on top of one of the soldier's corpses. She lifted the shield with both hands, brushed away the soldier's entrails with her gauntlet, and started at her reflection on the polished surface.

She couldn't believe what she saw.

Her long silver hair. Her vibrant rose colored eyes. Her nose, her lips, her neck, and everything she had below. It was beautiful. It had all come out just as she wanted. After waiting for so long, after almost giving up so many times, it had finally worked.

She was Zero. It was a perfect resemblance down to the most minute details.

She had never felt this happy in ages. Her expression of joy started as harmless giggling. It gradually turned into insane, uncontrollable laughter. The Power of Song meant she would always have Four's voice, but that was okay. Zero would get used to it. She would get used to it. She was glad a small part of Four could remain with her after all the hard work she had done. Plus, it just sounded cute.

When she finally relaxed, she sighed contently and smiled to herself. She held the shield to her chest, tightly hugging her own reflection.

Then someone tried to rip her heart out. She spun around on her toes, threw the shield in her attacker's face, and caused the assailant to clumsily stumble backwards. Four landed on top and held her sharpened gauntlet to the android's neck.

"Ah-ah-ah," she said with an innocent grin. "It's no fun when you play sneaky, Accord."

**[Wait, what?]**

Accord frantically struggled to fix her glasses.

"You knew I was coming?"

Zero answered her with a small nod.

"Mmhmm. My Intoner powers have helped the flower grow so strong that it can sense threats outside of its own universe. It doesn't just regenerate me anymore. It can regenerate entire timeline Branches. I'll bet this is already going differently from how your records say it happened."

**[Yeah, kind of.]**

Accord kept her silence. Zero looked down at her with a taunting glare.

**[Branch F-93-2 on High Alert. Deploy all available combat units immediately.]**

"You've probably already tried sending a bunch of extra Accords to get rid of me," she teased. "There's really no point, you know. The flower will just watch how they fight and create another Branch where I'm ready for them."

**[Uhhh… Rescind previous order.]**

Four's tone began to change. At first she sounded pouty and stubborn.

"I'm taking the flower out of this Branch whether you like it or not. All it wants from you are some directions. It doesn't really _need_ your help, though. It just wants to make things easier for all of us." Her voice gradually became more ominous. "If you don't want to play along, we'll just have to start picking random timelines and hope things work out. Who knows. Maybe the Flying Garden will end up in whatever dimension you're from."

**[SHIT FUCK DAMN CODE BLACK WE'RE IN CODE BLACK WE HAVE A CRACKED HOURGLASS. CORE BRANCHES IN IMMEDIATE DANGER ALL PERSONNEL ON RECORDING DUTY RETURN AT ONCE FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!]**

Accord swallowed nervously. There was a short delay before her courage protocols kicked in.

"Go ahead and kill me, Intoner. You've got to be joking if you think I'm just going to tell you how to destroy the entire space-time continuum."

Four responded to her bold declaration with a small burst of tickled laughter.

"Stupid machine. The flower doesn't want to go _that _far. It would only be dooming itself if that happened. It just wants a peek at your records so it can find some fresh soil. You can stay safe and sound in your little timekeeper universe while the flower gets some more worlds to consume. We both know new Branches are created faster than it can destroy them."

Zero stopped to think to herself. Her gauntlet stayed at Accord's neck while she coyly tucked her other hand under her chin.

"Hmm. Tell you what. You can start off by giving it some Branches that are already falling apart. The kind where things have really gone bad and all they do is give you more paperwork. The flower can take care of everything else. If it likes you, _maaaybe _it will stay out of the Branches you think are really important."

"We've never had to process this type of request before," Accord spoke in hesitation. "It's going to take me a while to look into it…"

**[DO IT DO IT RIGHT NOW THERE ARE NO OTHER STABLE OUTCOMES.]**

Something happened in her cybernetic brain. She looked as if she had come to a shocking epiphany.

"Request granted. I am now authorized to share information on Category Z Branches." She submissively tipped her head. "I'm at your service, Lady Four."

The Intoner finally lifted her metal claws from Accord's throat. She mumbled bitterly as she rose to her feet.

"It's Zero, now."

Under different circumstances, Four would have completely lost control of herself and cried her little heart out if someone didn't call her the name she wanted. This time, she just rolled her eyes and blew a puff of air from the corner of her mouth.

Accord slowly sat up and bowed again.

"My apologies, Lady Zero."

**[Recording ended.]**


End file.
